The Five
by Moczo
Summary: Viviane is upset she wasn't invited to join the Five. "Throne of Bhaal" in five parts.
1. Prologue

_Prologue:_

Viviane stared up at her six companions. Five of them were covered in wounds and blood, and one was fabulously naked on account of the fact that five minutes earlier he'd been a ghost.

Everyone was now telling her that her destiny was approaching and that meant she needed the best team. The _best_ team might not be standing in front of her, but they were all she had. Problem was, she could only take five of them.

"Any volunteers to go home?" she asked weakly. To her surprise no one, not even Viconia, volunteered. Viviane was silent for a minute as she considered this turn of events. "Well," she began, and the team hung on her every word, "Anomen is my cuddlebear, so he's staying." Anomen did his best to not be both embarrassed and pleased, but it was a futile effort. "Imoen is my home slice, so she's staying too." Imoen pumped her fist in the air. "Keldorn can summon a choir of angels, so he's not leaving." The paladin merely nodded his agreement. "Viconia... Well, I dunno. You're pretty cool and it's nice to have someone weaker than me, but you're kinda superfluous now."

The drow huffed. "I am never superfluous."

Viviane snorted. "Uh huh. And Minsc, you're awesome, no doubt about that. But you still owe me that ice weasel and that's not cool."

"Those are hard to come by," he pointed out, looking ashamed.

"Yeah but I was promised an ice weasel. Also what was up with you offering both Nalia and Aerie the position of witch? I'm a way better mage than either of them. I mean seriously, neither of them should be considered mages as far as I'm concerned. I think I would've been slightly less ashamed on your behalf if you asked _Jan_ to be your witch, but then again, I'm really truly 100-percent happy you didn't get that desperate. Anyway, I should be your witch. So man, I dunno, that's two strikes against you." Minsc hung his head in shame. "And then there's that one." She looked at Sarevok, who met her gaze with equal disdain. "And then there's that one."

"I'm trained in the great and terrible arts of the Deathbringer, specialized in inflicting terror and war upon my foes," the man said, voice unimpressed. "The ranger has a hamster and the drow needs a magic belt in order to swing a flail."

Viviane considered this. "He has a point. He also doesn't owe me an ice weasel."

Imoen winced. "Points and ice weasels. Not great things to bring up about a man who's naked."

"Astute observation, Immy. Someone get that man some clothes, 'cause he's joining our team." She grinned. "I know you thought I was a stupid, but I'm stickin' by callin' us the Three."

Sarevok almost, _almost_, told her he'd quit if she called them that, but frankly, he wasn't going to go that far.

She returned her look to Viconia and Minsc. "Sorry Minsc. I could overlook the promise of the ice weasel except for the whole witch thing, which really makes me mad. Get it, witch which?" No one even smiled, and she sighed. "You people don't appreciate my genius. Anyway, Minsc, sorry, you're out."

The great Rashemi warrior wibbled. "Very well. I shall remain here, in this hell cave of evil, until you forgive me and restore my honor. While I may not mind, I have to warn you, Boo judges you. He judges you harshly."

"Boo should've been more proactive in helping you make good decisions. Okay, team! Destiny calls, and apparently it's calling from Saradush because why not."

The team went through the portal to destiny.


	2. Part One: Yaga-Shura

Part I: Yaga-Shura

To the surprise of no one, upon arriving in Saradush they were beset upon by misunderstanding guards who insisted that murder was the best way to figure out what was going on. More than used to such a reception at this point, it didn't take long at all for the team to clear out the soldiers and come face-to-face with a distraught-looking redhead who quickly regrouped and introduced herself as Melissan, a Guardian for the Children of Bhaal

("She's the guardian of vicious killers spawned by a murder-god," Sarevok muttered. "I'm sure she's a wonderful woman.")

Melissan explained that the city was under siege outside by the fire giant Yaga-Shura and inside by Gromnir, an insane general, and that to progress any further they would need to defeat Gromnir and proceed outside the city to defeat Yaga-Shura.

("It sounds like a Tuesday to me," Imoen drawled.)

When Gromnir was slain, they were directed to the woods and an old temple of Bhaal for answers, and accosted by ghosts

("Okay, clearly that wasn't Gorion-Daddy considering he was mean, which stands to reason that the ghost wasn't your sister, either," Viviane was saying to soothe Anomen.

"But it was telling the truth – I did fail my sister by not avenging her!"

"Anomen, I'm telling you, you're fine. You can trust me, right? When have I ever steered you wrong?"

"… … How about when you-"

"Shhhhh.")

and crazy druid ladies. Eventually this led them to the Marching Mountains, home of Yaga-Shura's base.

* * *

"Here we are, team. Inside that cave is a temple filled with fire giants. So, who ought to go first?" Viviane asked, looking at the foreboding entrance.

"What kind of question…" Imoen began.

"Ah, I have an idea," Keldorn said, looking at if he'd caught on to some sort of inside joke, "Perhaps our member with the most experience in slaying giants should go first."

"But do we have such a noble knight?" Viconia asked, clearly understanding now.

"We do!" Viviane proclaimed, "There is, amongst our company, a most noble member of the Order who has ample experience in slaying giants! Why, he would feel proud to, if not obligated to, go first into this lair of fire giants!"

They all looked at Anomen, who was turning more and more pale with every passing second. "I… er… those were _Hillgnasher_ giants," he stammered lamely. "These are… fire giants, which are, er, more… … big? than Hillgnasher giants, and er, require entire parties to, er, slay. Yes, they are… full of tactics, and, as such, it would be best if… … we all went in together. I can, of course, lead if… if necessary, but… ah… it might not be."

Viviane patted her boyfriend on the back and went into the temple first. She considered it part of her job to make Anomen regret his past declarations of valor. After all, if she were ever called on to demonstrate the validity of _her_ past declarations of valor, she would do so and then trust her party members to save her life because if she died their quest was over. Anomen didn't have that luxury.

There were four fire giants guarding the entrance to the temple, although they were fairly easily dispatched by the well-crafted, battle-tested team. Sensing an opportunity, Sarevok approached his far smaller sister. "This is a fairly nice temple," he said rather companionably. "Though there are far too many fire giants for my tastes, but what do you expect when they worship something that isn't a god?"

"Some people would argue that the dead fire giants add a certain _ja ne se quois_," the elf replied with a shrug.

Sarevok barked out a laugh. "Spoken like a true Lady of Murder!"

Anomen wanted to interject – he was very good at interjection, found it to be one of his stronger abilities – but that would have opened him up to more comments about him slaying fire giants by himself, and he really had no desire to do such a thing.

For her part, Viviane sighed. "Yeah, I'm just not feeling the whole 'Goddess of Murder' thing." Behind the two talking siblings, three people looked relieved and one looked rather disappointed.

Sarevok shook his head emphatically. "I implore you to reconsider. We all know how much you'd love having your own temple…"

She did look tempted.

"… worshipers scrambling for your favor…"

She bit her lower lip.

"… daily sacrifices, likely being other mages…"

"Hey," said Imoen at that uncomfortable truth. Viviane hated other mages and refused to let Imoen cast any spells.

Viviane herself blushed terribly.

"… and _cheese_…"

She let out a very obvious moan. Anomen nearly died.

"That's enough, you two, we have important things to do," Keldorn said sternly, physically pushing Viviane forward.

* * *

"Not it."

Yaga-Shura's heart had the distinctness of being enormous, bloody, beating, and literally on fire.

A chorus of "Not it!"s followed Viviane's declaration that she was not going to be the one to carry the pulsing organ. Unfortunately, due to the in-unison chorus, the team was back at square one as to who would take on the duty.

"Maybe you could just 'zoom' it back to your pocket plane," Imoen suggested. "Although, come to think of it, getting it from there to the witch becomes a problem…"

"Besides, that icky thing is going nowhere near my pocket plane," Viviane sniffed delicately. "It's gross."

Viconia raised her hand gamely. "Perhaps we should hold it hostage so the witch teaches us how to remove bodily organs and attain invulnerability."

"That may be the most logical thing I've ever heard," Sarevok had to admit.

"Ewww, no!" Viviane's thin-fingered hands covered her chest defensively, as if she expected Viconia to attack her. "No way am I letting some crazy lady come at me with a knife! Besides, we as a group are way too badass to need cheating like that."

"_That_ is far more logical," Keldorn said, sounding proud.

"Fair enough, _darthiir_. So, regarding the heart…"

"We could make a wagon of some sort?" Keldorn suggested, not sounding convinced of this idea.

"Out of what?" Sarevok sneered, "Leftover pieces of chunked giant?"

"Ewww!" As Viviane made her displeasure known, Imoen nearly vomited at her mental image of a literal giant-made wagon.

Finally Anomen took a deep breath, held it, and marched forward, taking the burning flesh in his arms. He pointedly did not breathe.

"Cool. Good job, An-Man, way to take one for the team. All right guys, let's go back to the emotionally unstable druid so she can turn off the fire on several essential bodily organs! It's like literal heartburn!" Viviane pumped her fist in the air and started walking, her group following. "You know, sometimes I hate my life."

"Only sometimes?"

"Shut up, Viconia."

* * *

They delivered the hearts, although to the surprise of absolutely no one the emotionally-unstable druid attacked them viciously. It did not take a lot of effort for our heroes to be victorious, although Keldorn had to kill a charmed Sarevok twice before the end of the battle.

"Okay, I think we need a recap," said Imoen, looting corpses. "We just had someone un-set Yaga-Shura's heart on fire to remove his invulnerability, right?"

"Right," Viviane replied, pushing aside a dead dryad with her foot.

"And now we're going to take on his entire army by ourselves because he's not invincible anymore, right?"

"Right."

Imoen paused to consider her words. "I still feel like we're missing a few steps."

"You wouldn't feel that way if you knew Deathspell," her sister replied, patting her on the shoulder.

"That's because you won't let me-"

"Anyhow, so we're going to kill Yaga-Shura because he is an evil fire giant who's trying to torch Saradush."

"Why do we care about Saradush?" asked Viconia pointedly.

Viviane awkwardly rubbed one of her long ears. "Uh… Because it's a nice place? Gosh, you people are all uppity lately. I'm still in charge, you know! We're doing this because I said so!"

"Of course," Keldorn replied gently, even though everyone present knew that if they were going to listen to anyone, it was going to be Keldorn and certainly not Viviane.

"We should be fine," said Anomen companionably, "After all, I am an expert in killing giants of many different types."

Everyone else groaned.

* * *

Standing across from the bridge that separated them from an entire army, Viviane created her magical protections. "Okay, here's how we're going to do this. Keldorn, you summon a choir of angels." Keldorn had already started doing so, so she added, "And really that's all that needs to be said, but I guess for the rest of you - lots of area of effect spells, so Viconia and Anomen, spam up that awesome spell with the lightning. Storm of Vengeance, isn't?" Anomen nodded. "Sarevok, you're just going to do your thing. Imoen, please try not to die too quickly."

"Oh come on!" Imoen protested. "Why won't you let me be a mage too? Keldorn can summon a choir of angels and I can pick locks! This isn't fair at all!"

"Seriously, are you doing this right now?" Viconia sneered, looking at the pink-haired woman. "You have to pick _now_ to have an existential crisis?"

"Hey, I can have a crisis whenever I want to! Viviane, this isn't fair! You, Anomen and Viconia can use great and terrible magic! Anomen, Keldorn and Sarevok are strong and powerful warriors! _Keldorn can summon a choir of angels!_" She paused for dramatic effect. "_I can pick locks."_

Viviane gave her little sister her best encouraging smile. "You can also set traps! That's what I make you specialize in, remember? Lots and lots of spike traps."

Imoen was not placated. "They're only good for stationary villains that I know where they're gonna pop up, _or_ for small corridors where I can set up choke points. That requires precognition! Thanks to you I can set lots of spike traps and _Keldorn can summon a choir of angels!"_

Keldorn looked embarrassed as he admitted, "I'm sure if I asked nicely, an angel could probably pick locks too…"

"See! This is all your fault! I wanted to be a mage! I would have been a good mage!"

At that moment a group of peasants ran by screaming in terror. One was shot by a soldier, although he was then surrounded by a choir of angels healing him so he would be just fine.

The battle of Yaga-Shura and his army against Viviane and her allies began.

"Let's do this," said Keldorn, hefting up his sword. With a dramatic battle-cry, he ran into the fray, closely followed by Sarevok and Anomen.

As the three warriors engaged the enemy, Viviane sprinted past them, calling back, "I'll handle YagaShura; you all take out his army!" What could only be described as a horde of humans and giants descended upon Viviane's group, while the magess herself ran to find her biggest brother.

Standing back to back, Sarevok and Viconia formed a partnership, Sarevok slaying any close enemies while allowing Viconia to fling spells without being interrupted. "There are entirely too many of them," Viconia muttered before chanting another spell.

"They do seem to keep coming," Sarevok agreed.

Meanwhile Keldorn, aided by his Boots of Speed, was systematically hunting down and smiting the many mages that peppered Yaga-Shura's army.

Imoen considered doing nothing, but finally blended into the shadows to backstab various opponents.

Anomen was a one-man army, using his enchanted war-hammer to smash the skulls of his foes while healing himself when necessary.

Viviane sprinted her way through the armies eagerly attacking her allies to find Yaga-Shura. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed his protectors to attack the others. "I am invincible!" the giant declared, "I should have been sent against you initially, Viviane!"

"Yeah, well, I was stuck in the city with Gromnir; of course I was going to fight him first!"

"Wait, Gromnir – bah, never mind! You will die here!"

Letting out a war cry, he ran through a barrage of missiles she fired at him and swung down his huge war-hammer, which she nimbly dodged.

"What was that?" he questioned, standing straight and looking confused, "Was that… damn that witch! That was _pain!_ She dispelled my invincibility!"

"Ha ha," Viviane replied.

"Grrrr… no matter! I do not need it to destroy a mere elf!"

Viviane held her arms wide and gestured to herself in a 'bring it on' gesture. "Try me."

Meanwhile, the horde continued to come.

"This is getting ridiculous," Sarevok growled as Viconia chanted nearby, healing him from his numerous cuts. He truthfully wasn't feeling the pain, but the blood loss was enough to make him aware of the fact that too much more was going to kill him.

"I'm running out of spells," Viconia muttered under her breath.

Imoen finished off an opponent that Sarevok had already injured.

Elsewhere, Keldorn, having run out of Dispels, continued to hit and chip away at the defenses of the mages who, unharmed, began flinging their offensive spells at him. _If I survive this_, he thought to himself, _I am going to need to purchase new armor._

Yaga-Shura swung his war-hammer again, catching Viviane's spell protections as she casted a retaliatory Cone of Cold. He ignored the freezing pain, swinging again. She dodged.

Across the field, Viconia threw up her hands in disgust. "I can maybe heal a scratch, but other than that..." She withdrew her flail, "I will have to take a more proactive approach. Lil'alur! For Shar!"

For every stab wound Sarevok now suffered, a dead man lay at his feet.

Her spell protections still up, Viviane stuck her tongue out at her largest brother, blowing a raspberry.

Yaga-Shura leaned down and pressed a huge finger to Viviane's forehead, looking smug. Her Stoneskin cracked and fell to the floor, disappearing. The fire giant chuckled.

Viviane turned and sprinted.

It seemed like the army was Yaga-Shura was diminishing. Sarevok seemed to have gone into some sort of berserker mode, haphazardly slicing down enemies and ignoring his own wounds. It worked out well for him; in this state, little was harming him.

The mages having all been defeated by his hand, Keldorn began cutting down Yaga-Shuran foot soldiers, barely jumping out of the way as Viviane ran past, being chased down by Yaga-Shura himself.

As they ran past Anomen, the priest of Helm cursed to himself and started sprinting after them. Oddly enough, his first thought was, _Viviane really runs like a girl…_

"Old man! To me!" Sarevok barked, finding himself face-to-knee with another giant. Keldorn humbly went to his aid, the two of them tag-teaming the giant.

Viviane continued sprinting with Yaga-Shura fast on her heels. The ground was shaking each time the giant's feet hit the floor. Anomen was running parallel to them.

As Yaga-Shura was about to catch up to the hapless Viviane, Anomen ran out from behind a hut and, throwing all of his magically-enhanced strength into the blow, slammed Crom Faeyer into Yaga-Shura's kneecap. The giant went down hard.

Not losing momentum, Anomen grabbed Viviane's arm and the two continued running until they reached a dead-end.

"Do you have any magic left?" Anomen gasped to her, readying his tower shield for the inevitable retaliation.

Viviane nodded, using the opportunity to reactivate some more protections. "Let it be said that making that hammer and giving it to you was the best decision I have ever made, especially considering you know how much I hate spending money."

"That's not true," Anomen chided her good-naturedly, "The _best_ decision you've ever made was sleeping with me."

She chortled. "Oh you wish, lover boy." A chant completed her protections. "You ready to fight this guy, baby?"

"Aye, milady, as always."

The giant had consumed enough healing potions to restore his knee. It took him a minute to get up from the ground, allowing enough time for Anomen to cast his own protection spells. When Yaga-Shura came up upon the cornered couple, both were ready for him.

"He's rather tall," Anomen muttered to her.

"Try seeing it from my height," she responded, being shorter than the average elf.

Yaga-Shura bellowed for his soldiers as he approached the couple. Anomen tightened his grip on his shield and hammer, backing his lady up as much as he could. She moved with him, softly chanting in words he hated.

For whatever reason - divine influence, his own magical abilities, his love for her, rotten luck - he _knew_ when she would stop time. He was all too aware of becoming paralyzed and helpless, and he hated being forced to watch.

The air around them filled with frozen spells, and when the Time Stop ended all chaos broke loose with soldiers dying, ice chunks falling from the sky, and Yaga-Shura's spell protections fading from existence. Anomen hastily debated leaving Viviane unprotected and pressing the advantage, but before he could move a snarling Sarevok had leapt upon the giant's back, ripping open his side with his sword. Within moments Yaga-Shura had backhanded him before having to staunch his wounds and defend himself from Keldorn.

"FIRE!"

Anomen picked up the casting Viviane and ran, narrowly avoiding behind hit dead-on by a massive ball of flame. The resultant explosion tossed them away, and Anomen was forced to let her go lest he crush her. To her credit, she did not stop casting and a score of foot soldiers collapsed before pleading for death.

He hated Emotion almost as much as he hated Time Stop.

Regardless, that was when the moment presented itself perfectly - a distracted Yaga-Shura swatting and hitting at Sarevok and Keldorn who were running around him like flies. Anomen dropped his shield and sprinted as fast as he could, using both his hands and arm muscles to slam his hammer into the giant's already-injured kneecap. The Bhaalspawn roared in agony before collapsing onto Keldorn.

Viviane, as a last-ditch effort, reached out and grabbed one of the massive ice shards from the still-occurring storm she'd conjured. Holding it and trying to ignore the way it made her hand go painfully numb on contact, she raced as fast as she could before coming to stand above Yaga-Shura's head. "You know, rather than stay stationary and separated, you all should have stuck together!" she cried, shoving the ice shard into the giant's forehead.*

Silence settled across the field as Keldorn crawled out from underneath Yaga-Shura's corpse. The six-member hero team was surrounded by the dead army, looking pleased and exhausted.

"Told you I was an expert at killing giants," said Anomen, because he had to.

Then Viviane face-planted into the bloody dirt.

"Oh come on, it was a joke."

* * *

* It didn't go in. She wasn't close to strong enough. Sarevok took the honor before collapsing of his ridiculous amount of wounds.

* * *

"Greetings once again, Godchild," the Solar cooed, soothing Viviane's wounds. "The time has come for thee to learn of thy past and thy origins."

"Your timing is awful." She blinked, looking around her peaceful Pocket Plane. Minsc was playing fetch with Boo and Cespenar.

"Get used to it."

"Anyway, sure, knowledge it up, I guess."

"Tell me, what did Gorion tell you of your mother?"

She tried to recall. "Not much. He made it a point to emphasize they'd had sex, which was totally disturbing and way too much information."

Solar nodded. "You will learn much, then." The angel waved her hand, and a beautiful blonde elf with oversized ears appeared, smiling warmly. Viviane felt the urge to hug her until she noticed a very familiar skull-shaped pendant on a chain around her neck. "Hello my darling girl," the woman cooed, "What a beautiful little slaughterer you have become! You're more like your father every day."

Oh, gross. Viviane was, for once, at a loss for words. "Ngk."

The woman was beaming with a beatific mother's smile. "My name was Alianna. I was the High Priestess of Bhaal. It was with great honor and pride that I was chosen to bear you, one of my Lord's Children."

A shade of Gorion - far less malevolent than the one she'd seen in the woods - appeared next to Alianna. "I was assigned to find when and where the Deathstalkers were going to sacrifice the Children," he said, voice professional. "I was with Alianna throughout her pregnancy, but she never let slip who was her child's father, nor any of her plans for you. The night you were to die, I had to trail her and send word to my fellows."

Alianna gave her daughter a pleading expression. "It was supposed to be a great ceremony! The only deaths were supposed to be the Children who were conceived for that very purpose! It became a massacre with no one surviving! This man - he _slew_ me! Your mother!"

Gorion continued, "It was chaos. Fittingly, it was a slaughter. In the end, all the priests died, as did most of the children. I only had time to save one, and I chose you." He sighed. "I wish… I wish I could have saved more."

A little boy with a severe expression appeared on the other side of Gorion. "Not all of us died, though." Viviane knew, just from the tone of his voice and the glare he was giving, that this adorable little boy had to be Sarevok. "Some of us used the chaos to escape. No one saved me. I saved myself."

Gorion looked at Sarevok. "I am sorry, child."

Sarevok scoffed. "Save your pity. I was taken in by my foster parents in the Iron Throne, and I murdered you in the end. It was enough for me." He smirked, and Viviane could definitely see traces of her older brother in this boy.

Solar waved her hand again, and the three shades faded from sight. "What are your thoughts?" she asked quietly.

Viviane shook her head to get herself back to the present. "That was horrible," she admitted. "I can't judge Gorion for not telling me the truth."

"And what about your brother, Sarevok? Do you believe he stood a chance of happiness?"

She considered it. "That's hard to say. I think he would have been happier if Gorion had rescued him, but he ended up alive and with foster parents, so it could have been far worse for him."

The Solar gave her a meaningful look. "If Gorion had rescued Sarevok and not you, do you believe it possible you would have ended up in Sarevok's place?"

Viviane had a feeling this wasn't a question she should answer flippantly, so she thought about it out loud. "He and I are a lot alike anyway," she admitted. "I bet that if I'd been in his life and he mine, I would have been all Terror of the Sword Coast too. But I would have done a better job."

The Solar smiled. "Think on what we have discussed here, and go forth to your destiny, child."

She felt like she was floating, up and up until –

"Ah, the Child of Bhaal has awoken."

Viviane started screaming and flailing, not hitting anything. Her companions were all staring at her even as they were being swarmed by healing celestial beings.

"Never say that again!" she screamed, pointing at the randomly-appearing Melissan once she'd gotten her bearings.

The group looked at the mage in question. "I have no idea what she's going on about," she confessed with a shrug.

"She's insane, so just ignore her," Sarevok said dismissively. "What were you going to tell us?"

Melissan sighed as she glanced around the field. "So much murder… It's a pity this had to happen at all, but unfortunately it's not over yet and there's much more for you to do."

"Yaaay," Imoen drawled.

Viviane stood up, brushing herself off. "Yeah, there's still three more members to take care of. Who are they and where are they?"

Melissan took the map and marked it. "They are called Abazigal and Sendai, and they both have their domains outside the desert city of Amkethran. Both are more powerful than Yaga-Shura, but thankfully they do not have invulnerability that you will need to dispel first - or, at least, not that I am aware of. The rest I do not know, however. I am… friends with the ruler of Amkethran and I'm sure I can convince him to give you some aid, but the rest you will have to do on your own."

"You told us you would tell us more about you after we defeated Yaga-Shura," Keldorn reminded her. He had taken off his armor and was cleaning it, but he looked as if he might collapse at a moment's notice.

"This is true. As I said before, I am Melissan. I am a mage and a priestess, called to heal the suffering and protect the helpless. As news of your exploits reached my ears, I knew that the times of Alaundo's Prophecies were coming and I began doing my part to protect as many Bhaalspawn as I could…" She let out a weighted sigh. "It hasn't gone well at all. It seems that destiny is stronger than me."

"Awww, at least you're doing something," Imoen pointed out helpfully.

Melissan smiled at her. "Thank you for your kind words, Imoen. I will do my best to beat you to Amkethran and talk to my ally Balthazar. I - I wish you all the luck in the world!" She teleported out.

Again silence fell over the exhausted group.

"10 gold says she's evil," said Sarevok.

No one took him up on that bet.


End file.
